take a powder

Cultural  

1. To make a quick departure: “When he saw the police coming, the thief decided to take a powder.”

---

take a powder Idioms  

1. Make a speedy departure, run away, as in I looked around and he was gone—he'd taken a powder. This slangy idiom may be derived from the British dialect sense of powder as “a sudden hurry,” a usage dating from about 1600. It may also allude to the explosive quality of gunpowder.

---

Example Sentences

And on that note, we have to take a powder.

From New York Times • Nov. 8, 2011

At this point, indeed, many customers will be tempted to take a powder.

From Time Magazine Archive

Somoza was of a mind to take a powder.

From Time Magazine Archive

When should we be scared to take advantage of a swoon and instead take a powder and lock in the gains of the greatest bull market of all time?

From Time Magazine Archive

At eight o’clock in the evening he will eat some miserable rubbish they get in exchange for their food tickets, then he will take a powder for his headache and work on.

From "All Quiet on the Western Front: A Novel" by Erich Maria Remarque

Related Words

• avoid
• depart
• disappear
• dodge
• elude
• emerge
• evade
• flee
• fly
• leave
• run
• slip
• slip away
• vanish